A little bit rye rolls

My youngest son has just learn to say ‘I love you.’ So of course, like with any new skill learnt, he wants to practice it again and again. So it’s ‘I love you Mummy’ and ‘I love my Daddy’ and ‘I love you Charlie’ at least 50 times a day. That’s a conservative estimate. I feel loved. We all do. We’re basking in a halo of love and hugs.

Until this morning when the very same youngest son proclaimed his usual morning affection, ‘I love you Mummy’ followed by ‘…and Thomas and Harold and Cbeebies.’ So maybe the definition of love for him is a little bit skewed. Or maybe the Thomas the Tank Engine characters have been elevated to the same status as Mummy and Daddy and Big Brother and Cbeebies. The third parent in every house as we all know.

These rye rolls are most lovable – they’re doing you a bit of good I imagine from their rye flour content but they’re not so rye influenced that they break your teeth or make you feel like making your own yoghurt. If you’re into rye then there’s another recipe here to check out.

Comments, as always, welcomed.

One year ago: Baileys chocolate fridge cake truffles  and Experimental banana loaf

Two years ago: Cherry, white choc and apricot biscuits and Reeses’ inspired chocolate and peanut tart

Rye rolls

• 800g strong white flour
• 200g rye flour
• 14g easy bake yeast
• 14g salt
• 30mls olive oil
• 650mls warm water

Mix all of the ingredients together and leave for 5 minutes (this makes kneading a lot easier.) Then either knead by hand or in a stand mixer with the dough hook until smooth and elastic. A dough scraper is most useful if you are kneading by hand as you really shouldn’t add any more flour. The scraper is good for scraping down the work surface and removing any stragglers of dough. Use oil on your hands and work surface is the stickiness really bothers you.

Pop the dough into a large bowl and cover with clingfilm or a shower cap. Then leave to rise until double the size. Knock the dough back gently with your hands – you’re just deflating it. Then cut off pieces of dough and form into balls to make each roll. Mine were rather large – about 7cm across before the second proof. Once formed and all placed on a flour sprinkled baking sheet with 2cm between each roll, cover with a sprinkling of flour and then pop clingfilm loosely on the top.

Leave to proof until double the size (they will touch each other once proofed – this means you get that delightful effect where the rolls can be torn away from each other once baked.) Then slash with a very sharp knife, about 1cm deep across each roll and bake in a preheated oven at 200C/Gas 6 until golden brown and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped – took about 20 minutes in my oven. Leave to cool on a wire rack, off the baking sheet.

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